Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience Recognizes Outstanding Contributions of Lily Jan and Yuh Nung Jan
Scientists receive $25,000 award for contributions to neuroscience
CHICAGO — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) has awarded the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience to Lily Jan, PhD, and Yuh Nung Jan, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco. The prize was awarded during Neuroscience 2009, SfN’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news on brain science and health.
The Gerard Prize was established in the name of Ralph W. Gerard, who was instrumental in establishing SfN and served as Honorary President from 1970 until his death in 1974. The prize, which is supported by the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, holds great prestige in the field of neuroscience and allows researchers to recognize the work of their peers.
“This year’s winners exemplify the dedication and creative spirit infusing the field of neuroscience,” said Thomas J. Carew, PhD, president of SfN.
Lily and Yuh Nung Jan have had extensive careers in science and research. They began their long-term collaboration with studies that determined the DNA sequence of a potassium channel. This research laid the ground work for showing how mutations in ion channels affect health and brain development and cause such diseases as epilepsy, ataxia, and myasthenia gravis. The Jans also mentor a large number of students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have continued their scientific pursuits across the United States and throughout the world.
Lily and Yuh Nung Jan completed their undergraduate training in physics at National Taiwan University in 1968 and began their postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology that same year, where their research interests grew to encompass the field of biology. The Jans began sharing a lab in 1979, creating a partnership that has been instrumental in both their lives and their research.
The Society for Neuroscience is an organization of more than 39,000 researchers and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.
